A Lubbock County district court held that approximately 130 head of horses it allocated to the husband in a divorce action were worth $520,000. The husband disagreed.

The husband, Robert “Greg” Collier, objected to the court’s valuation at trial and in two separate appeals of the divorce decree. According to Greg, the trial court’s allocation of $520,000 worth of divorce assets to him in the form of the horses was an abuse of discretion, because the horses were actually worth far less than that amount. Despite Greg’s objections, the Amarillo Court of Appeals did not find that the trial court abused its discretion with respect to its valuation of the horses.

When the honeymoon's over, can you prove the value of your horses with reasonable certainty?

According to the court of appeals, the trial court seems to have based its valuation on an "appraisement and inventory" proffered by the wife, Leanne Farrell Collier. Leanne alleged that Greg possessed "approximately" 130 head of quarter horses that could sell for between $200 at a livestock auction to $7,500, if sold privately with a little training put into the horse.

The trial court apparently multiplied the number of horses (130) by one of Leanne’s estimates of what the horses could be sold for ($4,000) to arrive at the $520,000 figure.

Though the court of appeals noted that Greg’s testimony was more specific and “would support a different valuation”, Greg’s testimony was similar to Leanne’s in that it was full of estimates and guesses. At the end of the day, the evidence Greg used to support his objections to Leanne’s valuation was not specific enough for the trial court.

Because neither party provided the trial court with specific information regarding the number of horses owned by Greg, the trial court was left in a position of assessing the credibility of the parties’ estimated values.

How could Greg have avoided this dilemma? The parties could have kept better books and records with respect to the number of horses owned by the couple and related business entities. Furthermore, Greg might have retained a professional equine appraiser to determine the true value of the herd. A well-researched independent third-party appraisal is typically given more weight than the estimates and guesses of interested parties.

Well-founded appraisals are invaluable not only in divorce matters, but in any lawsuit where a horse’s value is at issue.

Related Cases:

In the Matter of the Marriage of Leanne Farrell Collier and Robert Greg Collier and in the Interest of R.C.C., a Child, No. 07-12-00084-CV, 2012 WL 3762475 (Tex. App.—Amarillo, Aug. 30, 2012, no pet. h.)

In the Matter of the Marriage of Leanne Farrell Collier and Robert Greg Collier and in the Interest of R.C.C., a Child, No. 07-09-00146-CV, 2011 WL 13504 (Tex. App.—Amarillo, Jan. 4, 2011, no pet.)